Key Points

High-level industry data till August suggests that volume demand increased year-on-year (YoY), although on a low base, it was impacted by elections last year. Meanwhile, launches were still slow as developers avoided the inauspicious days during the quarter.

"Yet our checks suggest that our covered developers combined pre-sales grew 64 per cent YoY," HSBC Global Investment Research said in a report.

The new launches largely received a strong response, allowing them to sell a significant part of the projects during the period.

According to the report, the sustenance sales were supportive and will be further supported by strong collections.

"We remain constructive on top residential developers. Pricing environment and upgrade demand in the premium segment (target market for listed developers) remain buoyant and support margins," the report stated.

Low unsold inventory and strong balance sheet, coupled with large real estate regulatory authority (RERA) cash balances, continue to generate confidence among the home buyers, the report added.

Large developers continue to gain market share driven by their ability to execute large and premium projects (which are in high demand).

Domestic press and influencers have been very negative on Indian residential real estate. All three large markets have been impacted by the shadow of negativity.

Additionally, the headline numbers also indicated a 15 per cent YoY decline in units sold in Q1 FY26.

"From a narrative perspective, while the National Capital Region (NCR) has been termed fragile and speculative, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) is expected to be oversupplied with redevelopment projects, and Bengaluru is too weak on IT job losses and the potential threat of artificial intelligence (AI)," the report noted.

- IANS